None other than McCarthy himself once said, ÃÂMcCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled.ÃÂ During the 1950s, many Americans thought that McCarthyÃÂs aggressive search for communist infiltrators proved an admirable form of patriotism. His victims were often artists from Hollywood, and it is therefore no surprise that many pieces of literature were produced to deprecate the government under Senator McCarthy. Arthur MillerÃÂs play The Crucible, written in 1953, has been commonly regarded as an anti-McCarthyistic play. Although the HUAC trials provoked Arthur Miller to write The Crucible, his intention was not to directly attack McCarthyism but rather to criticize the unjust accusations and verdicts that have occurred in various cultures and times.

There is no doubt that the HUAC trials influenced Miller in his decision to write a play about the Salem witch trials of 1692. Arthur MillerÃÂs friends, most of them working in Hollywood, had had ÃÂbrush[es] with Marxist ideas or organizationsÃÂ (Miller, ÃÂAre You NowÃÂ ÃÂ 3).

"The witch no. 1" lithograph

The Pickman House, Back view that abuts the Salem ...

Present-day archaeological site of the Salem Villa...

As he witnessed their tragedy and pondered about their emotionally painful experience, he was reminded of the Salem witch trials that he had studied in university. Soon he began to see similarities between both trials. Juries accused innocent people based on false or no evidence at all, and once they were condemned and labelled as witches or communists, they were victimized. The psychological pressure was immense for most of the population. The ones who benefited from those imputations were seldom challenged by opponents, and if resistance did occur, it would most likely be brought to an untimely end. In the play, Miller included a commentary on the parallels between the witch trials and the governmental hearings of his time. ÃÂIn the countries of the Communist ideology, all resistance of any import is linked to the totally malign capitalist succubi, and...

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Many times it has been said that if people learn form their mistakes they are doomed to repeat them. Such is the case throughout history. There are many different examples of this, but one example is the blatant similarities between the witch hunts in Salem Massachusetts and the era of McCarthyism ...

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." History is a "chronological record of events." These events, whether positive or tragic, often repeat themselves. The McCarthy Hearings that took place in the 1950's are a good example of this. The accusations of communism led to a ...

... Salem witchcraft trial s of 1692 the play was inspired by Miller's belief that the hysteria surrounding the witchcraft trials paralleled the contemporary political climate of McCarthyism - Senator Joseph McCarthy's obsessive quest to uncover the communist infiltration of ...

... HUAC, and Senator Joseph McCarthy could really accuse others. The accused could be anyone in the witch trials, however McCarthyism had mainly people in high powered positions accused of being communist. The reason why McCArthyism spread throughout the United States was because of ...

... Salem witch trials, and as described in the book, "The Crucible", a group of girls falsely accuse their neighbors of witchcraft, and regular, innocent people are hung. Then, in the 1950's, a man named Joseph McCarthy sparked a craze of accusing people, mainly government officials, of being communist ...

... Salem witch trials which stirred the small Puritan community town in Massachusetts into mass hysteria. Arthur Miller's play comments on the parallel between the events of 1692 and the McCarthyism which gripped America in the 1950's. The story evolves around the terrifying power of ...

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